Hunger for victory: Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive kicks off
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 15
The rivalry between Alabama and Auburn is firing up yet again, but the winners in this contest will be people in need. The 20th annual Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive began Monday with a kickoff event at the Ferguson Center on the University of Alabama campus, where students could purchase T-shirts and donate to get their favorite contestant a pie in the face. Last year, Auburn claimed the contest’s Can Trophy, a trophy topped by a can of soup, by collecting a total of 273,650 pounds of food, compared to Alabama’s 266,737 pounds. “The BABH team is very excited about this year because we are ready to fight hunger and bring back the Can Trophy to West Alabama,” said Addie Bunn, director of the Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive.
Five of the Best Law Schools to Attend
JD Journal – Oct. 15
…for those who have it in them to practice law, and would see justice done, no matter how long the road, they would be wise to try to get into the most competitive law school possible. This, after all, makes a great difference in the likelihood of getting hired once one has his J.D. and passes the bar. That being said, there are 5 programs, identified by PolicyMic, that are especially smart choices for lawyers-to-be…Fourth, The School of Law at the University of Alabama as an especially low tuition, at $20,000, with over 95 percent of the 2012 graduating class finding employment in 9 months.
US Government Shutdown Forces Closure of Antarctica Research Stations
Voice of America – Oct. 15
The U.S. government shutdown has reached the end of the Earth. The National Science Foundation, which receives its budget from the federal government, announced that it will shut down its three stations in Antarctica. This means research that would have been done during the summer season that began October 1 is now on hold. The loss could be both scientific and financial…That is bad news for Samantha Hansen, assistant professor of geological sciences at the University of Alabama. Last year, her team deployed 15 seismic stations in an Antarctic mountain range to study earthquakes. She had planned to return this season to collect the data. “If we can’t get down there and if any of the stations are not operating as they should right now, if they have any problem, we’re not going to be able to fix them, because we can’t get there,” Hansen said.
Local businesses seeing economic improvement, optimistic about future
Individual.com via Anniston Star – Oct. 16
If the economy is still sluggish, Mike Fortner has not noticed. Since opening his Anniston business Budget Blinds in August, Fortner has experienced considerable growth in his customer base, providing custom blinds and window coverings to the commercial and residential sectors in Calhoun County. “I’m doing very well so far,” Fortner said. “My business is growing every day.” … According to statistics released last week by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, the state’s economy is expected to grow around 2 percent by the end of year, based on fourth-quarter forecasts. The report indicates that the Alabama Business Confidence Index is at 51.9 points for the fourth quarter, higher than the 48.3 points the index had at the same time last year. The index is a survey of state business executives that measures economic expectations, with a score above 50 points meaning positive business confidence.
UA professor urges further research into animal cell study
Crimson White – Oct. 16
For the last four years, Margaret Johnson, associate professor in the department of biological sciences, has led undergraduate students at The University of Alabama in cell research on inositol, an essential nutrient which plays a role in cell growth and regulation. The research began when a former Ph.D. student from Jordan, Hana Dawood Ali Alebous, convinced Johnson that the mechanisms of inositol were worth seriously investigating. Inositol has been used in therapy treatments for pregnant women and people with cancer, but Johnson’s research focuses on how the chemical affects birth defects like spina bifida. UAB hospital administers inositol to alleviate birth defect problems in premature babies. But despite its positive applications, Johnson said she believes the nutrient needs to be studied more. “It’s a fantastic molecule, but we need to ask questions first,” Johnson said.
US lays down law for municipal-bond advisers
GARP.org – Oct. 14
When Wall Street nearly crashed five years ago, a dozen Atlanta-area governments discovered that some nifty side deals their financial advisers had coaxed them into when they issued bonds a few years earlier weren’t so nifty after all…Now federal regulators have finalized long-delayed rules aimed at protecting taxpayers and communities from a repeat of such costly mistakes … “Right now, (local governments) pay for their advice through transactions” with investment banks and other firms, said University of Alabama finance professor Robert Brooks. Brooks said he began to understand how expensive and risky such advice can be when he looked at one deal Jefferson County signed in 1997. He estimated that investment bankers had structured it to boost their own take by about $3 million at the county’s expense. “It was so bad that I used it as a case in my 1998 class,” he said, as an example of what not to do.
Huxford Symphony Orchestra to perform in Moody Concert Hall this Friday
Al.com – Oct. 15
University of Alabama music faculty members will perform this Friday with the Huxford Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. in the concert hall of the Moody Music Building on campus. The program will include “Les Offrandes Oubliées” by Olivier Messiaen, “Concerto for seven winds, timpani, percussion and strings” by Frank Martin, featuring Diane Boyd Schultz, Shelly Meyers, Osiris J. Molina, all associate professors; Jenny Mann, assistant professor; and Charles “Skip” Snead, director of UA’s School of Music. Assistant professors Jonathan Whitaker and Tim Feeney will perform “Symphony No. 1, Op. 10” by Dmitri Shostakovich. Tickets for this concert are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and $3 for students. Tickets are available online at uamusic.tix.com or by phoning (205) 348-7111. The Huxford Symphony Orchestra performs six concerts and an opera each year on the UA campus. The orchestra is open to music majors as well as students from other disciplines around campus.
Greek students hold fundraiser, raise money for cystic fibrosis
Crimson White – Oct. 15
Thirteen greek organizations at The University of Alabama will host the “Rock Out to Knock Out CF” fundraiser Friday from 5-8 p.m. to raise money for the Thomas Plott Foundation. Five-year-old Thomas Plott was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was 10 weeks old. After he was diagnosed, he was immediately put on various medications and several daily treatments. “He is your typical, gregarious little boy who just happens to have CF,” Blair Plott, Thomas’ mother, said. “He plays flag football, tennis and was recently inducted into the Student Government Association at his school, Verner Elementary”. Plott reached out to Wilson King, a senior majoring in chemical engineering and member of Phi Gamma Delta, who then began to discuss possible fundraisers with Gracie Davis, a senior majoring in nursing. “The more we talked, the more we realized that if we worked hard enough, we could really put together something special,” King said. Phi Gamma Delta and Sigma Nu are now combining their front yards to accomodate everyone involved.
Adapted sports searches for new coach
Crimson White – Oct. 16
The University of Alabama’s adapted athletics department will soon begin the search to replace a head coach who won two national championships in two different sports. Miles Thompson, who coached both the men’s wheelchair basketball and the wheelchair tennis teams to national titles in 2013 will leave to become the coach of Great Britain’s national women’s basketball team at the end of the basketball season. Thompson became the first coach of the men’s wheelchair basketball team when it was formed in 2006, and his team won its first national championship this year. He helped launch the wheelchair tennis program this year as well, also serving as its first head coach. Last weekend, his first-year team won the team national championship, finishing four points ahead of the University of Texas-Arlington at the national tournament held at the NorthRiver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa. “Of course, it was a hard decision to leave,” Thompson said. “You want to be able to follow these student athletes through this process, and I won’t be able to [do] that with some of them, and that is what makes it difficult.”
Creative Co-Op helps students show, sell art
Crimson White – Oct. 15
For those seeking to add an original flair to their dorm space or apartment while supporting University of Alabama student artists in the process, look no further than Creative Co-Op. Founded by senior graphic design and printmaking major Allyson Mabry during her junior year, Creative Co-Op serves as a group of artists helping artists, whether they be graduate or undergraduate students, sculptors or painters. “We function a lot like a support group,” Mabry said. “We’ve just made this great open and positive community for people to ask questions about selling art and about anything.” Mabry did not expect to find herself starting her own organization last August, but a friend’s inquiry about where she could purchase original art made Mabry realize that the University lacked a forum for students to buy and sell artwork. Creative Co-Op now serves to fill that void. “As a printmaker, and as an art student in general, I generate a lot of work just from class that I don’t necessarily want to keep because it piles up under my bed, and I’m like ‘What do I do with all this artwork?’” Mabry said. “And there’s the fact that it’s really expensive to be an art student.”